The Animists

In a remote Saharan valley, a mysterious caravan approaches from the south. In its train, it brings gold and slaves but also marvelous, dangerous things - ancient pagan heresies and a scorching, unceasing southern wind. And more. For the first time in desert memory, a caravan has come to settle permanently, to build a city of walls and roofs in a land where men have always lived freely as nomads.

Renowned as Ibrahim al-Koni's masterpiece, The Animists is an epic story of the many winds sweeping north and south across the Sahara - of the struggles between devils and humankind, worldly traders and Sufi ascetics, monotheists and animists, nomads and city dwellers, life and death. Al-Koni's depiction of the Saharan crossroads is at its richest in this novel - nowhere else is his portrayal of humanity's spiritual and existential battles so complex and compelling, nowhere else are his unique storytelling skills so evidently displayed.